batch.motif.sufi-rumi-mesnevi-book-1-redhouse-gutenberg-l6755-l6857
---
record_id: batch.motif.sufi-rumi-mesnevi-book-1-redhouse-gutenberg-l6755-l6857
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/mesnevi-book-1-redhouse.md
passage_locator:
label: OF QONYA. / PREFACE. / IN THE NAME OF GOD, / THE ALL-MERCIFUL, THE VERY-COMPASSIONATE.;
lines 6755-6857
start: '6755'
end: '6857'
translation: The Mesnevi
notes: Generated from OpenAI Batch run motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority;
human review required.
canonical_text:
quote: ''
summary: A group addresses the Vazir, lamenting his absence and describing themselves
as dependent on him like instruments, echoes, chess-pieces, paintings, or images
moved by unseen wind. The narrator then turns to a theological argument about
divine action and human responsibility, citing the Qur'anic saying that the thrower
did not truly throw. The passage distinguishes divine power from coercion, argues
that shame and regret indicate free choice, presents sickness as an occasion for
conscience and repentance, and contrasts prophets oriented toward heaven with
miscreants oriented toward worldly life and hell.
language: English
quote_policy: summarized
literal_observations:
- id: obs:1
text: The speaking group insists to the Vazir that their complaint comes from grief
at not seeing him.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:2
text: The group compares itself to an infant with a nurse, harps struck by a plectrum,
reed flutes, an echo in a mountain vale, and chess-players whose moves depend
on another.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:3
text: The group says its being and movement are from the addressed figure and compares
itself to lions on weathercocks moved by unseen wind.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:4
text: The passage names the unseen mover as the Great Unseen and the Almighty One
behind a screen.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:5
text: The group says pictures cannot complain against the painter and that grace
sought them out before they prayed.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:6
text: Creation is compared to a picture before an artist and to canvas before an
embroiderer; demon, angel, and man are said to be bid into being.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:7
text: The narrator cites the Qur'an and the saying that the human thrower did not
truly throw the sand.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:8
text: The passage says the bow, arrow, and shooters are from God, while also denying
that this amounts to simple compulsion.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:9
text: The narrator argues that shame, blushing, regret, and felt need indicate free
will rather than total compulsion.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:6
- id: obs:10
text: A sick man is described as counting his sins, asking for grace, vowing repentance,
and promising future righteousness.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:11
text: The passage addresses a seeker after truth and gives an aphorism connecting
wakefulness of conscience with greater pain.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: obs:12
text: Captives, bonds, fetters, guardsmen, and jailers are used as examples in an
argument about whether one truly feels compelled.
category: object
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: obs:13
text: Prophets are said to choose futurity and tend toward heaven, while miscreants
and fools choose the goods of worldly life and are called the brood of hell.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: obs:14
text: The passage uses birds flocking with birds of their own feather as an image
for affinity or orientation.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
figures:
- id: fig:1
name_or_label: petitioning group
description: The plural speakers who address the Vazir, lament his absence, and
describe themselves as dependent beings.
role_refs:
- role:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:3
- id: fig:2
name_or_label: Vazir
description: The addressed figure whom the speakers do not wish to deny and whom
they say they grieve not seeing.
role_refs:
- role:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- id: fig:3
name_or_label: God / the Great Unseen / the Almighty One
description: The unseen divine source behind action, creation, and the Qur'anic
example of throwing.
role_refs:
- role:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
- ev:4
- id: fig:4
name_or_label: seeker after truth
description: The addressee of the aphorism about wakefulness, conscience, and pain.
role_refs:
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: fig:5
name_or_label: sick man
description: An illustrative human figure who, when ill, counts sins, asks grace,
and vows repentance.
role_refs:
- role:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: fig:6
name_or_label: prophets
description: Figures described as choosing futurity and tending toward heaven with
heart and soul while on earth.
role_refs:
- role:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: fig:7
name_or_label: miscreants / foolish
description: Figures described as choosing worldly goods and as the brood of hell.
role_refs:
- role:7
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
roles:
- id: role:1
label: dependent supplicants
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: They lament absence, describe themselves as nothings, and compare their motion
and speech to effects produced by another.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:3
- id: role:2
label: addressed spiritual or communal authority
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: The group addresses the Vazir directly and attributes guidance, life, gifts,
and influence to him.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- id: role:3
label: ultimate divine cause
assigned_to:
- fig:3
basis: The passage identifies an unseen Almighty behind movement and says the bow,
arrow, and shooters are from God.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:4
- id: role:4
label: instructional addressee
assigned_to:
- fig:4
basis: The narrator directly addresses the seeker after truth before stating the
aphorism.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: role:5
label: example of awakened conscience
assigned_to:
- fig:5
basis: The sick man is used to show how illness prompts remembrance of sins, grace-seeking,
and repentance.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: role:6
label: heaven-oriented exemplars
assigned_to:
- fig:6
basis: The prophets are said to choose futurity and tend to heaven.
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: role:7
label: world-oriented wrongdoers
assigned_to:
- fig:7
basis: Miscreants and fools are said to choose worldly goods and belong to hell.
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
symbols:
- id: sym:1
label: musical instruments moved by another hand
literal_form: harps, plectrum, reed flutes
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:2
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: sym:2
label: echo from another sound
literal_form: mountain vale and echo
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:2
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: sym:3
label: chess moves directed by another
literal_form: chess-players, check, mate
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:2
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: sym:4
label: unseen wind moving visible figures
literal_form: lions on weathercocks moved by wind
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:3
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: sym:5
label: picture before painter
literal_form: pictures, painter, artist, brush
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:3
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
- id: sym:6
label: unborn child in womb
literal_form: unborn babe in mother's womb
associated_figures:
- fig:1
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: sym:7
label: canvas before embroiderer
literal_form: canvas before the needle and embroiderer's hand
associated_figures:
- fig:3
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: sym:8
label: bow and arrow from God
literal_form: bow, arrow, and shooters
associated_figures:
- fig:3
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: sym:9
label: sickness as awakening
literal_form: sick man, bed, illness
associated_figures:
- fig:5
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: sym:10
label: captivity and fetters
literal_form: captive, bonds, fetters, guardsmen, jailer
associated_figures:
- fig:4
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: sym:11
label: birds of a feather
literal_form: birds flocking with birds of their own feather; cock and mate
associated_figures:
- fig:6
- fig:7
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: sym:12
label: story's fount
literal_form: old story's fount
associated_figures: []
taxonomy_refs:
- water
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
scenes:
- id: scene:1
label: petition to the Vazir
summary: The speaking group protests that its remonstrance is grief, not denial,
and describes its speech, motion, and life as dependent on the Vazir.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
- sym:2
- sym:3
- sym:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- id: scene:2
label: created beings before divine agency
summary: The speakers compare themselves and creation to pictures before an artist,
unborn beings, and canvas before an embroiderer, saying beings are bid into existence
and cannot defend or pray by their own power.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:3
symbol_refs:
- sym:5
- sym:6
- sym:7
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
- id: scene:3
label: Qur'anic proof and agency argument
summary: The narrator cites the Qur'an about the throwing of sand and uses bow and
arrow imagery to state that action comes from God while denying that this eliminates
human responsibility.
figure_refs:
- fig:3
symbol_refs:
- sym:8
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
- ev:6
- id: scene:4
label: sickness and conscience
summary: The narrator says sickness awakens conscience, causing the sick man to
count sins, ask for grace, and vow repentance.
figure_refs:
- fig:5
symbol_refs:
- sym:9
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: scene:5
label: two orientations of humanity
summary: The passage contrasts prophets, who choose futurity and heaven, with miscreants
and fools, who choose worldly life and are associated with hell.
figure_refs:
- fig:6
- fig:7
symbol_refs:
- sym:11
- sym:12
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
candidate_motifs:
- id: motif:1
label: creaturely dependence on an unseen mover
taxonomy_refs:
- annihilation_union
basis: The speakers call themselves nothings, compare themselves to instruments,
echoes, chess-pieces, weathercock figures, and pictures, and identify an unseen
divine source behind motion.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:3
confidence: medium
cautions: The dependence is voiced within a narrative address to the Vazir as well
as in theological language about God; the passage does not explicitly name mystical
annihilation.
- id: motif:2
label: divine causation and human free will held in tension
taxonomy_refs:
- duality
- wisdom
basis: The passage cites God as the source of action but argues that shame, regret,
and felt choice show that human responsibility remains.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
- ev:6
confidence: high
cautions: This is a doctrinal argument rather than a mythic narrative episode.
- id: motif:3
label: illness as moral awakening
taxonomy_refs:
- wisdom
- initiation
basis: The sick man is described as reviewing sins, seeking grace, and vowing repentance;
the narrator says sickness is a time for waking conscience.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
confidence: medium
cautions: The passage presents this as an aphoristic example, not a full initiation
narrative.
- id: motif:4
label: heavenward and worldly affiliations
taxonomy_refs:
- duality
- divine_judgment
basis: Prophets are associated with heaven and futurity, while miscreants are associated
with worldly goods and hell, with birds flocking according to kind.
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
confidence: medium
cautions: The passage states moral orientation more than a developed judgment scene.
comparison_claims:
- id: claim:1
claim: The passage explicitly aligns its agency argument with a Qur'anic statement
in which the human act of throwing is attributed beyond the human thrower.
claim_level: same_function
target: 'Qur''anic precedent: ''Thou threwst not, when thou threwst'''
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: high
limitations: The passage itself supplies the Qur'anic comparison; no broader historical
or intertextual claim is made beyond that citation.
evidence:
- id: ev:1
type: summary
locator: 6755-6774
quote_or_summary: The speakers address the Vazir, grieve not seeing him, and compare
themselves to an infant with a nurse, harps and plectrum, reed flutes, echoes,
and chess-players.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/mesnevi-book-1-redhouse.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized for extraction.
- id: ev:2
type: summary
locator: 6775-6794
quote_or_summary: The speakers say their being is in the addressed figure, compare
themselves to lions on weathercocks moved by unseen wind, name the Great Unseen
behind the screen, and say pictures cannot complain against the painter.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/mesnevi-book-1-redhouse.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized for extraction.
- id: ev:3
type: summary
locator: 6795-6804
quote_or_summary: Creation is compared to a picture before artist and brush and
to canvas before an embroiderer; demon, angel, and man are bid to be; the speakers
say they have no hand, breath, or speech to defend or pray.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/mesnevi-book-1-redhouse.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized for extraction.
- id: ev:4
type: summary
locator: 6805-6811
quote_or_summary: The narrator directs the reader to the Qur'an, cites the saying
'Thou threwst not, when thou threwst,' and says the bow, arrow, and shooters are
from God while denying simple compulsion.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/mesnevi-book-1-redhouse.md
rights_note: Public domain source; includes a short public-domain quotation.
- id: ev:5
type: summary
locator: 6812-6831
quote_or_summary: The narrator argues that shame indicates free will and describes
a sick man who counts sins, asks for grace, vows repentance, and learns that sickness
can awaken conscience.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/mesnevi-book-1-redhouse.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized for extraction.
- id: ev:6
type: summary
locator: 6832-6847
quote_or_summary: A seeker after truth is addressed with an aphorism linking wakefulness
and pain; captivity, bonds, fetters, guardsmen, and jailers are used to reject
compulsion as an excuse when it is not felt.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/mesnevi-book-1-redhouse.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized for extraction.
- id: ev:7
type: summary
locator: 6848-6857
quote_or_summary: The prophets choose futurity and tend toward heaven, while the
foolish and miscreants choose worldly life and are called the brood of hell; birds
flock with birds of their feather; the narrator returns to the story's fount.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/mesnevi-book-1-redhouse.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized for extraction.
confidence:
extraction: high
motif_candidates: medium
comparison_claims: high
notes: Extraction is based only on the supplied passage. Motif labels are cautious
because much of the passage is didactic and metaphorical rather than narrative
myth.
reviewer_status:
status: needs_review
reviewer: ''
reviewed_at: ''
notes: Machine-generated draft from OpenAI Batch; not human-reviewed.
extracted_by: openai_batch:gpt-5.5
extracted_at: '2026-04-28'
notes: |-
No external sources were used. Taxonomy references were limited to the available lists and only applied where directly supported by the passage imagery or argument.
batch_run_id=motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority
custom_id=motif_extract:sufi-rumi-mesnevi-book-1-redhouse-gutenberg__l6755-l6857
passage_sha256=8efbdb7c4811483283f2ad9b17aa858ffac57ad574649ebeaab2cf48db83d94c